Well my 2006 Hyundai Santa Fe needs a new heater core. Around Xmas I noticed my heat was not like normal. A week or so ago, I noticed the coolant reservoir low, so I bought some anti-freeze and topped it up.. I had heat again. I don’t drive much so it wasn’t that obvious, but a few days later, it was down again. I didn’t see any coolant leaks on the ground or inside, so I checked the rad cap. the rubber looked a little squished on one side and also chipped, so I went to the dealer and got a new cap..
But that didn’t help as the next day, I saw the coolant down again. I checked the ground and nothing, but this time when I checked inside, I realized that I had lifted the winter mat and rubbed my hand over the summer mat. When I lifted the summer mat, the carpet was soaked with antifreeze.
I took my SUV into the dealer this morning and at first they said it was a loose clamp, but then they came back that it was the heater core. They quoted me $649 labour and $440 for the core. I balked at teh prices and they said they would try to get an after market core. They came back with a $120.00 core… They say the labour is high as the whole dash needs to be removed.. I feel I’m caught between rock and a hard place as I can’t drive for very far, and also, I can’t take it to a garage, as things now a days are so specialized, that they refuse to work on newer vehicles, for anything but the basic jobs.
So in total, it will cost me close to a $1,000 dollars to get back on the road again.. Any savings I made when I bought the vehicle have been chewed up with a tune up, timing belt and now this..
Well I got my SUV back this afternoon. I was surprised that he got it all back together… This is the picture I took yesterday afternoon when he had it all apart… There are a couple of brackets on the right hand side (by the door) and just to the left of that (in deeper to the firewall) is the heater core. The problem is that it’s in a frame box, so the box also has to be removed to replace the core…